Hello! My partner and I will be visiting Tokyo in late November/early December for a special occasion. I've been there over 10 years ago and this will be her first time. We are keeping our trip mostly in Tokyo since there's so much to do there. Also we really don't want to spend time traveling on our trip like to Kyoto or anywhere else, sitting on a bus or train that much.
We're in our early 30s, with our interests being food, manga, video games, and are really big on doing things that are exclusive to we're traveling to. Not big into nightlife or drinking.
Our general structure is to have touristy/sightseeing stuff in the beginning of the trip with our base in Asakusa, then onto Nagano for a break, then back to Tokyo for everything else with our new base in Shibuya.
Day 1: Arriving in Narito in the afternoon. This will be an easy day to settle in at Asakusa and to explore that area
- Asakusa was suggested as the place to stay because of it's quieter location. Is this a good idea?
Day 2: teamLab Planets, checking out Odaiba
Day 3: Ghibli Museum, Koenji neighborhood for music/vintage scene, maybe a rock show at night
- Is Koenji worth checking out?
- Should we swap Day 2 and Day 3 activities, since music might be better on a Saturday night? Just worried about things closing early on a Sunday at Odaiba.
Day 4: Head to Nagano, bath-hopping
- Are there any mixed onsens in this area?
Day 5: See snow monkeys, more bath-hopping
Day 6: Hiking, more bath-hopping, head back to Tokyo, check into our place at Shibuya
- We will be potentially staying in Shibuya for the rest of the trip. Would this be best or are there better places to stay?
Day 7: Explore Shibuya, Shibuya crossing, Shibuya 109, Meiji Shrine, Yoyogi Park
- Is Yoyogi Park worth it?
Day 8: Nakano Broadway
Day 9: Yanaka Ginza, Nezu Shrine, Todoroki Valley
- Are these places worth it?
Day 10: Head to Hakone for a day trip for Hakone Shrine and onsens
- Would it be worth it to stay overnight at Hakone? We're on the fence about making this a day trip versus overnighting it.
Day 11: teamLab Borderless, exploring Shinjuku, Golden Gai
Day 12: Tsukiji Fish Market, maybe onsen
- Anything around Tsukiji worth seeing or should we combine this with another area?
Day 13: Tokyo DisneySea
Day 14: Explore Akihabara
Day 15: Explore Harajuku, explore Takeshita Street
Day 16: Shopping where we want to revisit
Day 17: Last minute stuff then leave in the afternoon
General questions:
- We plan to just wander a lot and do/see/eat things that catch our attention. Are there any spots along our trip that you would say are things we simply cannot pass?
- We have 4 shrines/temples we'd be potentially going to. Are they worth it? Or is it kinda the same after the first 1 or 2?
- While I'd like to go to Godzilla, Pokemon, Mugiwara, and Nintendo stores, I am not quite sure I want to go out of my way to them since it looks like it's just plushies and stuff being sold there. We'll go to them if we're in the area. Is this suggested? Or is it worth it to go specifically into those stores even though we're hitting up Nakano Broadway and Akihabara?
- A big snag I'm hitting while I'm doing research is an absence of mixed onsens. I would like to spend time with my partner at these places but it looks like there aren't mixed onsens, only the general areas. Our only options would be private onsens like at Nagano which we're doing a couple nights for. Any suggestions for mixed onsens?
- I'd like to hit up a super hi-tech arcade. Any suggestions on this?
- Are there any other immersive things we might be interested in doing? I know this is what the teamLabs is for, but we're also a huge fan of escape rooms. Not sure if there is anything like that for English-only speakers in Tokyo.
- What other things are we missing that we could do only in Tokyo?
by jaypooner